


To Serve and Protect

by LdyBastet



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-05
Updated: 2011-04-05
Packaged: 2017-10-17 15:12:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/178169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LdyBastet/pseuds/LdyBastet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanda and Allen are sent on a mission together, and some things work out differently than they expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Serve and Protect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gossymer](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Gossymer).



> The world and characters of D. Gray-man belong to the copyright holders. This is an attempt at transformative work and/or satire.
> 
> Written for slashfest on LiveJournal where Gossymer requested: _Kanda on an undercover mission and partnered with one Allen Walker. I'd personally like something without any extremes - nothing overly angsty, fluffy or cracky; something believable._ I don't know if I've managed to pull that off, but I aimed at believable... Being new in this fandom, I have just discovered that the majority think of Kanda as uke, but I'm sorry, I just don't see that at all.

It was already late by the time they reached their destination. The village was a prosperous one and had grown considerably over the last few years. With the increasing population, there had been more and more strange things happening: people disappearing, a few wells drying out on the same day and then being filled with wine... It was when the wine appeared that Finders alerted the Order. That people disappeared was no conclusive evidence, but this was more than a strange coincidence - there had to be Innocence somewhere in the village.

Kanda strode down the street, heading for the Inn of New Hope. He pushed the door open and shook back the hood of his cloak. The door swung shut behind him and there was a surprised yelp from the other side.

"I have a room reserved," Kanda told the man behind the counter. "Marquis de Custine."

The inn-keeper tried to hide his stare and quickly began riffling through the papers behind the counter. "I'm very sorry, sir, but it seems like your reservation hasn't reached us..."

Kanda made an impatient sound. "You do have rooms, don't you?" he asked with obvious disdain. "Then just give me one, or do you wish for me to sleep on the street?"

"No, of course not, sir!" The inn-keeper opened a ledger to look for an empty room.

"Sleeping on the street isn't so horrible," came a mumble from behind Kanda. "At least it's not raining..." Allen poked carefully at his nose where the door had slammed it. He put their suitcases down on the floor and looked around the lobby.

"I'm afraid that all our best rooms are already taken, but we have a nice one on the second floor..." The inn-keeper looked hopeful.

"I'll take it."

"Thank you. If you just sign here." He slid the open guest book over for Kanda to sign in. "May I inquire what your business is here in our little town?"

"I write travel accounts," Kanda said and put the pen down. "My servant will take care of the payment."

Allen spun around. "Hey! I'm not taking care of your bills!"

"Silence, beansprout!"

Allen sputtered, but didn't protest more. He hadn't meant to jeopardise their disguise, but just hearing those words had been a nasty shock.

"You'll have to excuse my servant," Kanda said to the inn-keeper. "I just recently hired him, and he doesn't yet understand his place."

"He'll learn I'm sure," the inn-keeper said with a fearful glance at Kanda, handing him the key. The metal tag on it read '204', and Kanda sneered. The inn was pretending to be a hotel. "He can sleep in the stable if--"

"He'll sleep inside my door," Kanda interrupted. "Best way to make sure no one disturbs me."

"Yes, of course, of course. I hope you'll enjoy your stay!"

"This is almost as bad as travelling with Cross," Allen mumbled behind Kanda as they ascended the stairs.

"Tch!" Kanda said, glaring at Allen over his shoulder. "If you don't have what it takes, you should quit now."

 

~O~

 

Allen caught the blanket Kanda threw at him and blinked. "You were serious? You want me to sleep over here?"

Kanda snorted. "We have to keep in character. Anyone could be working for the Millenium Earl. What do you think would happen if they suspect that we're exorcists?" Kanda draped his cloak over the foot of the bed and began unbuttoning his coat. "Besides, there's only one bed," he said and lay down on it.

A cloud seemed to pass over Allen's face. "We could have switched roles," he said darkly. "Who decided you're the noble and I'm the servant, anyway?"

"You wouldn't pass for a noble anywhere. You're too wimpy," Kanda said and turned his back to Allen, signalling that the conversation was over.

 

~O~

 

"Here you are, sir." A cup of coffee and a plate with two croissants were put in front of Kanda. "I hear you're a writer?" the girl asked with shining eyes. "Have you come to write about our village? So many wonderful things have happened here the last few years."

Allen looked at his own plate with only one croissant and swallowed. His stomach grumbled. "What kind of wonderful things?" He wondered if he was going to survive this assignment. He looked up at the waitress. "Could I have another one of these? It looks really tasty..."

"Oh you have to see the wine fountains! They were ordinary wells from the beginning, but suddenly they changed. They've been bought now by a restaurant, so people can't drink freely from them anymore, but that's probably for the best." The girl giggled. "They're still open on holidays and special occasions, though! And then we got this fantastic beauty parlour. All the girls go there and they can get any hairstyle or colour they can imagine. I think the owner must be really famous - he claims he can even change people's eye colour if they're not happy with it... but you're probably not interested in that," she said with a glance at Kanda. "I mean, you don't need such a place. Um, being a man and all..." She blushed and pressed the tray against her chest. "I'll be right back with another croissant."

Kanda sipped his coffee.

"What do you think?" Allen asked.

"About what?"

"The fountains. The people who've disappeared."

"We'll meet with a Finder as soon as we're done with breakfast," Kanda said and ate one of his croissants slowly. "After that we'll know more."

 

~O~

 

"We're just going to wait?" Allen asked and looked across the deserted street. "Why can't we go and talk to him? I'm sure he'll understand if we just explain everything." He moved out of the alley where they'd been standing for the last hour, but didn't get far. Kanda quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the shadows.

"You're going to do as I say," he growled into Allen's face, "or you can head back to the Order immediately while I retrieve the Innocence."

"Komui sent us both. I'm sure there was a reason for that," Allen snapped.

"Yes, he sent you along to annoy me. That's the only reason, because you're certainly not helping." Kanda was so close to Allen that he could see the anger in his eyes despite the darkness, could feel the boy take a breath to protest.

A quiet scraping sound alerted him just in time to lift his gaze to see a shape approaching. In the flash of a second he made the decision and closed what little distance there was between him and Allen, pressing their lips together. It muffled whatever Allen had been about to say enough to not reach to the street, and after the first syllable, there was only silence. Kanda held Allen close, not letting him get away from the kiss, while keeping an eye on the street beyond. Not until the threat of discovery was gone did he let go.

Free to pull back finally, Allen gasped and blinked at Kanda. "What? Why did you do that?"

"The Earl's spy," Kanda replied, still watching the street. "If you'd made a sound, we would have been detected."

"You didn't have to-- to kiss me for that!"

Kanda shrugged. "Don't get your hopes up, beansprout. Come on, we have to check so they don't break into the house and steal the--"

Surprisingly strong hands grabbed the front of Kanda's coat and he suddenly found himself with his back pressed against the wall and warm, soft lips against his own, the wet tip of a tongue probing between them... It took a second or two before the surprise wore off and gave way to anger, but then Kanda pushed Allen off.

"Get away from me!" he hissed.

Allen panted, his cheeks flushed dark. "You started it!"

"I did not, and if I did you didn't have to continue! Now stop touching me!"

"Why did you kiss me if you didn't want to? There had to be other ways to stop me from talking."

Kanda growled. "It was the quickest way to make you shut up!"

"You could have told me to be quiet!"

"Then he would have heard us!" Kanda found it hard to believe that the boy really could be so dense.

"You could have put your hand over my mouth!" Allen tried.

"My mouth was closer."

"You're not making any sense," Allen said, frowning.

"It's you who can't see sense. As if I'd really want to kiss you." Kanda rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth and carefully peeked out into the street. No one was there. "I don't have to justify my actions to the likes of you. But if it makes you feel better, I won't try to save you a second time. You're on your own from now on."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Allen made a low growling sound from behind Kanda, but Kanda chose to ignore it and dashed over to the corner of the house they'd been watching. He didn't care if Allen came or not. He'd just be in the way.

 

~O~

 

"Do you think he knows that it's the presence of the Innocence that is doing these things?" Allen asked.

Kanda shrugged. "He's taking the credit for it himself, so probably not. It doesn't matter. It's easier to take it from him if he doesn't know what it is he has."

"We can't just go there and steal it!" Allen frowned at Kanda.

"Why not? It doesn't belong to him anyway."

"We don't know that. What if he's really compatible with it?" Allen stepped over to the window.

Kanda gave a snort of contempt.

"If it's an equipment type, he could be compatible since it is actually working. It's just that he wouldn't--"

"Do you ever shut up?"

Allen turned around and faced Kanda defiantly. "Why don't you try shutting me up again?"

Kanda took an involuntary step back. "You're a pervert!"

Allen gave him an unsettling smile. "Travelling with Cross makes you see... things," he said.

"It seems more as if it makes you delusional," Kanda retorted and turned away. "Let's get the Innocence."

"Too late!" Allen cried out, his eye glowing red in the dark room. "Akuma!" They were both out of the room in an instant.

"We should have taken it as soon as we knew it was there," Kanda growled, jumping from one roof to another.

"We weren't sure--"

"You weren't sure."

"There's two of them!" Allen's arm transformed, and he jumped towards one of the Akuma, Kanda taking on the other one.

The silence of the village was broken when a third Akuma suddenly appeared from behind the house, pumping it full of holes. Debris was blasted in all directions, and the night sky was lit up by the pulsing lights and then fire as the house flared up with flames. Kanda dodged a few stray bullets and sliced upwards, feeling the blade cut through the metal. He jumped away, just in time to avoid the blast as it exploded.

A quick glance over his shoulder revealed that two more Akuma had appeared. There was no doubt about it: there was Innocence hidden here. Akuma wouldn't show up in such numbers otherwise, he thought. They'd taken too long to retrieve it, and all because the beansprout had insisted they find out if the hairdresser was the rightful user of this Innocence. Kanda swore under his breath and set after the new Akuma.

When the night was silent once again, Kanda looked around the mess that had once been a house. There was nothing left of it now, and it would be a miracle if the occupant was still alive. As he turned the corner, he caught sight of a pair of legs sticking out from under a portion of a wall. The legs ended in a pair of feet... and the feet were clad in boots. Not what one would expect to see on a man killed while sleeping in his own bed.

"Allen!" Kanda ran over to lift the debris off him, fearing the worst. "Idiot! You were supposed to kill the Akuma, not go inside the house!"

Allen lay face down, too still for Kanda's comfort, and next to him was the remnants of a vase, its shards surrounding a glowing crystal: the Innocence. Kanda sighed. At least they had managed to save that. "Allen?" He gently turned the boy over to see if there was anything he could do.

Slowly, Allen opened his eyes and there was a faint smile on his face. "You worried about me."

Kanda pulled back, scowling. "I did not! Now stop playing dead or I'll leave you here. You can find your way back to the Order on your own." He reached for the Innocence and quickly stood up, putting it in his pocket.

 

~O~

 

By the time Allen returned to the inn, Kanda had already packed his suitcase and gone to bed. He didn't turn around as Allen stepped into the room. "We leave at first light," he said.

"But that means we won't get any breakfast," Allen said, and Kanda could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"I know," he replied. "Getting the Innocence back to the Order as quickly as possible is more important than your stomach."

Allen slid down onto the floor, his back against the door. "God, you're cruel."

Kanda smiled to himself. The trip back home should prove interesting. It was so easy to make Allen uncomfortable.


End file.
